Impressed enough to want to see you finally square off with
Anderson
Silva in an epic pay-per-view blockbuster? Well, maybe not so
much, at least if you take the time to really think about it.

After 567 days away from the Octagon, the reigning welterweight
king performed as if he had never left. In earning a unanimous
decision victory over Carlos
Condit at UFC
154, St. Pierre struck for takedowns in each round and opened a
cut above the challenger’s eye within the opening five minutes. He
landed effective combinations on the feet and survived a harrowing
third round in which Condit floored him with a head kick and
aggressively pounced for the finish.

Through it all, St. Pierre showed no lingering effects from the
torn knee ligament that kept him on the sidelines while a new
generation of talented welterweights emerged, eager to challenge
one of the sport’s all-time greats upon his return. By reclaiming
his place atop the 170-pound division, St. Pierre also kept the
torch burning for a long-awaited showdown with the middleweight
king, his chief rival when it comes to pound-for-pound
accolades.

“It’s the No. 1 best pound-for-pound fighter in the world against
the No. 2 best pound-for-pound fighter in the world,”
UFC President Dana White told Fox Sports after the bout. “It’s
a big fight. We think people want to see it, and we think the guys
want to do it, so we’ll do it. They will fight, and it will
probably be in May or around May.”

St. Pierre-Silva is the dream matchup that most everyone wants to
see. What other bout could just as easily fill a football stadium
in the United States as it could a soccer stadium in Brazil?
Certainly not a St. Pierre-Johny
Hendricks pairing, which would seem to be the next logical step
should “Rush” elect to remain at 170 pounds.

Silva-St. Pierre is sexy and alluring; St. Pierre-Hendricks is
plain and practical. “The Spider” was a high-profile guest at the
Bell Centre in Montreal on Saturday, and the pay-per-view broadcast
conveniently included a special Silva cam so fans could
simultaneously follow St. Pierre’s actions in the Octagon and the
middleweight champion’s reactions outside of it. A post-fight
confrontation in the cage between the two icons would have been a
perfect way to cap off the night -- had St. Pierre allowed it.

“I know Anderson is here right now,” St-Pierre said during a
post-fight interview. “I was focusing on Carlos Condit 100 percent.
I need to take some vacation and think about it to see where I put
my career. I want to make the best decision for myself and the
fans.”

Considering the circumstances, it is hard to blame St. Pierre for
having only a lukewarm response to what could turn out to be the
biggest fight in promotion history. After five rounds with Condit,
St. Pierre looked like he had just emerged from a car accident.
Motivation to face arguably the greatest striker in the UFC is
understandably difficult to come by after going through such a
grueling battle.

Georges
St. Pierre File Photo

Dana White is pushing hard for a
pound-for-pound showdown.

When St. Pierre does decide he is ready to fight again, he will be
faced with overwhelming pressure to make a super fight with Silva
his next endeavor. That is the bout that will draw the most
interest and make the most money. Only Silva versus Jon Jones
comes close to duplicating that hype, and the Brazilian is much
less amenable to the idea of a bout with the light heavyweight
champion.

Fighting Silva is clearly the best decision for everyone else, but
is it the best choice for St. Pierre? The
Tristar Gym representative has said repeatedly that he needs to
add more muscle to his frame before he would feel comfortable
moving up to face Silva, even at a catchweight. Even then, St.
Pierre would struggle to implement his MMA-tailored wrestling
against “The Spider.” While the Canadian has technical and accurate
standup, he would not be nearly as efficient with his striking
against Silva. As great as St. Pierre is -- and he continued to
prove it on Saturday -- a fight with Silva does not promise to be
especially competitive.

A matchup with Hendricks, who knocked out Martin
Kampmann in just 46 seconds in the UFC 154 co-main event,
figures to be much more intriguing. A two-time NCAA national
champion wrestler at Oklahoma State University, Hendricks has the
pedigree necessary to keep St. Pierre from imposing his will.
Couple that with the otherworldly power he has in his left hand,
and suddenly St. Pierre has someone his own size to pick on.

“It feels great,” Hendricks said after starching Kampmann. “I had
to prove I was No. 1 contender. Please, please give me a shot at
the belt.”

Scary power and solid wrestling aside, Hendricks may find himself
in Chris
Weidman territory for the time being. As much as “Bigg Rigg”
looks to be a legitimate No. 1 contender, his name does not yet
carry the weight necessary to shift the focus away from Silva-St.
Pierre.

However, professional sports is not always about big names and star
power; sometimes, good old-fashioned competition will suffice, and
St. Pierre appears to have plenty of that in his own weight class.
Although the scorecards might say otherwise, Condit gave St. Pierre
a significant struggle at UFC 154. A pair of 50-45 tallies from the
cageside judges would seem to suggest that St. Pierre cruised to
victory, but his demeanor, along with his battered countenance,
told a different story.

The Condit head kick that had everyone thinking upset for a few
fleeting moments? St. Pierre might not get a mulligan if he gives
Silva a similar opportunity. Judging by his overall lack of
enthusiasm for the bout at the post-fight press conference, perhaps
St. Pierre himself recognizes as much.

“[St. Pierre] is lumped up. He’s sore. He feels like he just got
hit by a bus, I’m sure. He hasn’t fought in 18 months. I’ll make
this [Silva] fight,” said White. “We’re going to sit down with
Anderson, probably in the next two weeks, and I’m sure we’re going
to sit down and talk to St. Pierre and his team, too. Who knows?
Maybe we go into this thing and St. Pierre says, ‘Absolutely not,’
but I just don’t see that happening.”

While the UFC boss hopes to get both parties to come to terms by
the spring, he also acknowledged that St. Pierre could fight again
before a showdown with the Brazilian. If that is the case, it makes
sense for Hendricks to be next in line. If St. Pierre does tell
White no on Silva, then Hendricks is that guy anyway.

Maybe we already know how this story will end: St. Pierre jabs the
decorated wrestler to death, plants him on his back a few times and
cruises to another unanimous decision. Or maybe Hendricks shows a
better mix of boxing, wrestling and stamina than his predecessors
at 170 pounds and pulls the upset. From here, Hendricks appears
talented enough to make it happen.

In the last hyped, cross-divisional pairing, St. Pierre overwhelmed
B.J. Penn
at UFC 94 in January 2009. He is well aware of how a significant
size advantage -- especially when paired with the skill set of
someone like himself or Silva -- can alter the course of a fight.
If St. Pierre packs on the added weight necessary to face Silva and
promptly suffers a traumatic knockout loss, who says he returns to
170 pounds the same fighter he once was?

Somehow, some way, it seems like St. Pierre and Silva will
eventually happen. St. Pierre is simply too much of a company man
to keeping telling White no, especially when he realizes what kind
of effect the fight will have on his bank account. Be careful what
you wish for, fight fans. In the case of Silva-St. Pierre, the
chase is where the suspense ends.